Bellator MMA has announced it has partnered with SHOWTIME Sports and BBC to bring its mixed martial arts content to more people around the world. Bellator MMA and SHOWTIME Sports are both owned by Viacom CBS. Under the partnership, SHOWTIME will air live Bellator events on Friday nights with three consecutive weeks of action starting on April 2 at 9 PM Eastern.

The fights will continue on April 9 and April 16. The three-week launch will coincide with the start of Bellator’s Light Heavyweight World Grand Prix tournament which will feature some of the top stars from the 205-pound division. After the first three weeks, SHOWTIME will televise up to two live Bellator events each month for the rest of the year.

In the United States, all Bellator MMA events will be available on SHOWTIME with preliminary fights being streaming live on Bellator’s YouTube channel and SHOWTIME Sport’s YouTube channel. Also, Bellator has announced a historic partnership with the BBC. As a part of the agreement, all of Bellator’s 2021 events will be broadcast live on the BBC iPlayer in the United Kingdom.

The ground-breaking deal follows the BBC’s broadcast of Bellator’s Paris event last year which marked the first time the BBC had aired live MMA on its network. The partnership allows UK MMA fans to enjoy all of Bellator’s events wherever and whenever they take place. Events will also be available on-demand after the initial broadcast.